Robust and Wide Temperature-Range Zinc Metal Batteries with Unique Electrolyte and Substrate Design

Rechargeable zinc metal batteries are promising for large-scale energy storage. However, their practical application is limited by harsh issues such as uncontrollable dendrite growth, low Coulombic efficiency, and poor temperature tolerance. Herein, a unique design strategy using γ-valerolactone-based electrolyte and nanocarbon-coated aluminum substrate was reported to solve the above problems. The electrolyte with extremely low freezing point and high thermal stability enables the symmetric cells with long cycle life over a wide temperature range (−50 °C to 80 °C) due to its ability to regulate zinc nucleation and preferential epitaxial growth. Besides, the nanocarbon-coated aluminum substrate can also promote a higher Coulombic efficiency over a wide temperature range in contrast to the low Coulombic efficiency of copper substrates with significant irreversible alloying reactions because this unique substrate with excellent chemical stabilization can homogenize the interfacial electron/ion distribution. The optimized zinc metal capacitors can operate stably under various temperature conditions (2000 cycles at 30 °C with 66 % depth of discharge and 1200 cycles at 80 °C with 50 % depth of discharge). This unique electrolyte and substrate design strategy achieves a robust zinc metal battery over a wide temperature range.     

Enantioselective Hydrosilylation of β,β-Disubstituted Enamides to Construct α-Aminosilanes with Vicinal Stereocenters

Despite the advances in the area of catalytic alkene hydrosilylation, the enantioselective hydrosilylation of alkenes bearing a heteroatom substituent is scarce. Here we report a rhodium-catalyzed hydrosilylation of β,β-disubstituted enamides to directly afford valuable α-aminosilanes in a highly regio-, diastereo-, and enantioselective manner. Stereodivergent synthesis could be achieved by regulating substrate geometry and ligand configuration to generate all the possible stereoisomers in high enantio-purity.     

Structure-based design,synthesis of novel probes for cytochrome P450 OleT

Cytochrome P450 OleT_SA, a new cytochrome P450 enzyme from Staphylococcus aureus, catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation and hydroxylation of fatty acids to generate terminal alkenes and fatty alcohols. The mechanism of this bifurcative chemistry remains largely unknown. Herein, a class of derivatized fatty acids were synthesized as probes to investigate the effects of substrate structure on the product type of P450 OleT_SA. The results demonstrate that the fine-tuned structure of substrates, even in a remote distance from the carboxyl group, significantly regulates OleT catalyzed decarboxylation/hydroxylation reactions. Molecular docking analysis indicated the potential interactions between the carboxylate groups of different probes and the enzyme active center which was attributed to the bifurcative chemistry.     

Influence of substrate activation process on structural and optical properties of ZnS thin films

ZnS thin films were deposited on glass substrates by a chemical bath deposition method using a substrate activation process in which aluminum ions become “contaminants” that act as a nucleation center for active components within the deposition solution. The structure and morphology results demonstrate that the films have a ZnS sphalerite crystal structure with a particle size less than 15 nm, and the films consist of small homogeneous grains. The effects of the substrate activation process on the band gap energies and donor-acceptor pair luminescence process were also investigated. A green emission centered at 502 nm was produced due to donor-acceptor transitions from the aluminum acceptor to the ionized and substitution aluminum centers (Al³⁺).     

Effects of substrate temperature upon the properties of ZnMgTe layer grown by MOVPE

The effects of substrate temperature upon the optical property, composition and surface morphology have been investigated on nominally undoped Zn_1−xMg_xTe layers grown on (1 0 0) ZnTe substrates by atmospheric pressure metal organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). It was found that Mg composition increases with decreasing substrate temperature. The result of low temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurement suggests that the optical quality of Zn_1−xMg_xTe layers becomes better with decreasing substrate temperature. On the other hand, there is a narrow range of optimal substrate temperature for a smooth surface morphology. For all the layers, a two-mode behavior with ZnTe- and MgTe-like longitudinal optical phonon modes was confirmed by Raman scattering.     

Effects of substrate temperature on the efficiency of hydrogen incorporation on the properties of Al-doped ZnO films

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) transparent conducting films were successfully prepared on glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering at different substrate temperatures in Ar and H₂ + Ar sputtering ambient. The effects of substrate temperature on the effectiveness of hydrogen incorporation in Al-doped ZnO films were investigated. The microstructural, electrical and optical properties of AZO films were systematically analyzed by surface profiler, X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscope, four-point probe measurement and UV/vis spectrophotometer. The XRD patterns and SEM pictures indicate that the crystallinity of AZO thin films was markedly improved with hydrogen incorporation at low substrate temperature, while the improvement of crystallinity was not an obvious change at high substrate temperature. The results also indicate that hydrogen incorporation has the stronger effectiveness on the transparent conductive properties of AZO films with the substrate temperature decreasing. The resistivity of the films decreases, especially for lower substrate temperatures, due to the incorporation of hydrogen atoms. These results suggest that substrate temperature should be controlled to the lower level to effectively reduce resistivity without detriment to transmittance of AZO thin films when hydrogen is incorporated.     

Electrochemistry of platinum nanoparticles supported in polypyrrole (PPy)/C composite materials

Conducting polypyrrole (PPy)/C (Vulcan XC-72) composite materials were synthesized by chemical polymerization method. These materials were used as matrix to support platinum nanoparticles, which were produced by the carbonyl chemical route. For the same catalyst loading (50 μg cm⁻²), it was observed that the nature of the composite strongly influences the electrochemical activity of nanoparticulated platinum toward the oxygen reduction reaction in acid medium. The variation of the PPy/C ratio determines the so-called substrate effect for electrocatalysis. Dedicated to Prof. Dr. Teresa Iwasita on the occasion of her 65th birthday in recognition of her numerous contributions to interfacial electrochemistry.     

Influence of the substrate optical properties on the backscattering of contaminated microstructures

The presence of small defects in micron-sized structured surfaces introduces small changes in the backscattering that can be assessed by means of an integrated parameter. In this work the influence of the optical properties of the substrate on this technique is analyzed for two different configurations: defect on the microstructure and defect on the substrate beside the microstructure.     

基于近红外光谱的柔性基底紫外臭氧改性效果表征研究

近年来,随着纳米科技、聚合物材料和先进制造技术的发展,以柔性传感器为代表的新兴柔性电子器件在可穿戴、健康医疗、物联网终端等领域发挥着越来越重要的作用。作为柔性电子器件的载体,柔性基底对传感器的机械可靠性和电学传感性能等方面有着重要的意义。但由于其表面非极性键造成的高疏水性限制了功能性材料在其表面的沉积,常常造成柔性基底层与电极层/敏感层之间不稳定的界面结合。因此,利用紫外臭氧处理对柔性基底表面改性受到了广泛的关注。利用近红外光谱技术对柔性基底的紫外臭氧处理效果进行快速精准评估,旨在从基团分子层面探究其改性效果,在实际应用中是对传统依靠接触角测量评估方法的有效补充。具体而言,对四种常见的柔性基底材料聚二甲基硅氧烷(PDMS)、聚萘二甲酸乙二醇酯（PEN）、聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）和聚酰亚胺（PI）进行了1/2/5/10 min不同时长的紫外臭氧（UVO）改性处理,并利用近红外光谱对其改性效果进行表征研究,最后利用接触角测量方法对上述的表征结果进行了验证分析。近红外光谱分析表明：对于柔性PDMS基底,紫外光能量不足以切断其中的甲基（—CH₃）官能团和（—C—Si—）等化学键,无法引入羟基、羧基等亲水性基团。对于柔性PEN和PET基底而言,紫外臭氧处理的效果要优于柔性PDMS基底,且对柔性PET基底的处理效果要优于柔性PEN基底,其原因可能是PEN基底材料中萘环的双环结构具有很强的紫外光吸收能力,阻隔了380 nm以下的大部分紫外线能量。对于柔性PI基底,紫外臭氧处理可以有效引入羟基（—OH）和羧基（—COOH）等活性基团,且这些官能团的强度和数量随着处理时间的增加而增加,从而在短时间内使得PI基底表面能增大、接触角减小、湿润性提高。接触角测试结果验证：紫外臭氧处理对于柔性PDMS基底处理效果不明显（接触角下降幅度为8.4%）;对柔性PET基底处理的效果（接触角下降幅度为39.6%）要优于柔性PEN基底的处理效果（接触角下降幅度为9.4%）;紫外臭氧处理的效果对柔性PI基底处理效果最佳,接触角下降幅度达到了62.7%。     

Analytical modeling of loss characteristics of a polymer arrayed waveguide grating multiplexer

Theoretical analysis is performed for the loss characteristics of a polymer arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) multiplexer around the central wavelength of 1.55 μm with the wavelength spacing of 1.6 nm. The total loss of the device includes the diffraction loss in the input and output (I/O) slab waveguides, bent loss caused by the AWG and I/O channels, leakage loss resulted from the high refractive index substrate, and propagation loss due to the absorption and scattering of the materials of the device. The effects of some structural parameters on the loss characteristics are investigated and discussed. The computed results show that when we select the core thickness as 4 μm, core width as 6 μm, pitch of adjacent waveguides as 15.5 μm, diffraction order as 50, the number of the arrayed waveguides as 91, that of the I/O channels as 17, confined layer thickness between the core and the substrate as 10 μm, distance between the focal point and the origin as 5500 μm, and central angle between the central waveguide and the x-axis (i.e. the vertical of the symmetrical line of the device) as 60°, the total loss of the device can be dropped to the range 3.79–7.93 dB.